Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by military forces, arrived in the neighborhood of At-Tur and demolished a building under construction containing three apartments, owner of the property Khamini Hamdan told Ma'an.

Three shops connected to the building were also destroyed, he added.

The buildings were destroyed under the pretext that they lacked construction permits, although Hamdan said he has been trying to obtain building permission for over 6 months.

Kayed Jaradat, a joint owner of the property, said he had obtained a court-order to suspend demolition orders on the building until May, saying that the construction cost of the property was over 600,000 shekels ($166,000).

Two nearby apartments were evacuated during the demolition, with 40 people forced to leave their homes temporarily.

Since 2004, Israel has demolished 442 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, leaving 1,746 people, including 945 children, homeless, according to B'Tselem.

Palestinian homes are usually demolished under the pretext of not having a building permit. Figures from Israeli NGO Bimkom show that 95 percent of Palestinian applications for a building permit are rejected.

Rights groups say that Israel implements a series of discriminatory practices in housing, planning, residency rights and budget allocation in East Jerusalem, with the aim of reducing the number of Palestinians living in the city.

1 ) ANTI ZIONIST / LEBANON

24/04/2013 12:26

VERY SAD ALLAH WILL MAKE ZIONISTS TO PAY FOR IT...!!!

2 ) @ Anti-1 / Zionist

24/04/2013 13:58

NO (building) Permit Means NO Building. - NO EXCEPTIONS

3 ) Legal Matters / Israel & World

24/04/2013 16:36

This is An internal LEGAL MATTER, of PALESTINIANS BREAKING THE LAWS: - Palestinians are breaking of the State of Israel, under whose sovereignty they live, by building without permits, and Israel will enforce the Laws, and - Palestinians are breaking of the International Community, by using terror and rockets attacks against Israel's civilians, and the International Community should at least try to enforce the Geneva-Convention and War Crimes Laws!!

4 ) Sadia / usa

24/04/2013 19:32

Praying for peace in the middle east

5 ) @ Sadia-4 / USA too

24/04/2013 21:48

- REALISTICALLY, Arabs and Jews must do more than just "pray for peace in the middle east", where - Both must realize that peace can only follow negotiations, and negotiations will only follow talks, and thus - IT IS TIME FOR PALS TO STOP REFUSING TO TALK.

6 ) JoeUSA / USA

24/04/2013 22:56

So why do Israeli settlers start illegal settlements under Israeli law. Why does not the state move and demolish such settlements. Once can hide behind "the law". But one cannot defend laws in the service of discrimination. In the US , there used to be laws forbidding blacks to drink from the same water fountain. You cannot just accept and say :" It is the law". Discriminatory policies are very well documented and there is a lot of empirical data to prove systematic discrimination in Israel .

7 ) Gerry / Canada

25/04/2013 02:18

"International Community should at least try to enforce the Geneva-Convention and War Crimes Laws!!" Sounds good to me. Enforce international law but hold all equally accountable. No justice, no peace

8 ) SHIRLEYs / aUSTRALAI

25/04/2013 10:36

IT IS the state of palestine idiots havent noticed the un vote or flag of palestine flying at un only the pa dosent recognize it as they are 2 gutless and allow isreal to continue its illegal war crimes get this jews the west bank is not isrealisreals illegal laws and orders meen jack sh___ and dont push it hitler was beaten when he tried this crap his illegal laws didnt count eitherthere are plenty palestinians willing to defend their country if good enough for jews to have world wide jew army

9 ) @ Joe-6 / USA too

25/04/2013 15:44

- "The West Bank", aka Judea & Samaria, has ancient history of Jewish settlement, so resettling the land is not illegal under Israeli law, but now - Truthfully, It has been a long time since "ISRAELI SETTLERS started any settlements", and even expanding an existing settlement REQUIREs PERMITS, JUST LIKE illegal expansion attempts by PALESTINIANS !!

10 ) gabi / australia

26/04/2013 03:52

# 9 - permits required - yes, but Israelis almost always get them, while Palestinians never get them. So stop blabbering on about what's illegal and what's allowed - building in Israel is illegal for anyone unless you are Jewish.And while we are talking about expansion of settlements (as opposed to new construction) why is it that the "expansion" percentage of the settlements is far greater than the percentage of population increase?

11 ) Maureen / Australia

26/04/2013 21:39

#9 Ancient Jewish settlement was not the Khazia of tody that is plundering Palestine!

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